Members don't always welcome constant change at Costco Wholesale

On Tuesday, when I went searching for the Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix I have been buying from Costco Wholesale for years, I found another brand, above and below.

The price, $4.79 for a 1-pound package, was the same, but when I made a salad at home, I didn't find the organic radicchio or arugula I've enjoyed in the Earthbound Farm mixture.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I try to eat a salad after dinner every night, and probably go through more than 50 pounds of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix a year.

Costco Wholesale always has the best price -- under $5 -- and a 1-pound package lasts me about a week.

On Tuesday, I walked into a cold room at the Teterboro warehouse in search of Earthbound Farm and found another brand, Wholesome Garden.

I enjoyed the salad I made that night, but missed a couple of ingredients I usually find in the Earthbound Farm mixture.

At the fish case, I searched in vain for the long-line caught cod fillets from Iceland that are one of my favorites.

I planned to poach the skinless-and-boneless wild cod in a Mexican-style salsa from Whole Foods Market, but settled for another wild-caught fish from Iceland, flounder, at only $7.99 a pound.

Going, going, gone

I've learned to roll with the punches at Costco Wholesale, which runs out of, moves, stops selling or substitutes another product for a surprisingly large number of items.

I waited years for Costco to sell lactose-free milk, but all of sudden, the product disappeared from the refrigerated case, never to return.

I loved the 16-ounce cartons of Kirkland Signature 100% Egg Whites, but again, they disappeared for many months before returning this year.

The Egg Beaters the warehouse stocked instead were a lot more expensive than Costco's own product.

And where oh where are the Frankly Fresh Vegetarian Stuffed Grape Leaves -- delicious when heated -- that I found at Costco several years ago?

One change for the better was when Costco started selling only cage-free whole and liquid eggs.

At the Teterboro Costco on Tuesday, only three of the fish fillets were wild caught.

The Teterboro Costco has started baking its own baguettes (2 for $4.99) and other specialty loaves every day, above and below. But the retail store at Balthazar Bakery on South Dean Street in Englewood sells a superior baguette for only $2 each.

Last week, my wife got a refund at Costco for a 5-pound bag of Moroccan Clementines, which we didn't like. On Tuesday, I bought a 5-pound bag of small, sweet clementines from Spain for $5.49. Today at the Super H Mart in Ridgefield, a 5-pound box of Bagu Clementines was $6.99.

My son, a dedicated carnivore, couldn't resist a 6-pound package of Seasoned St. Louis Ribs ($2.49 a pound), 5-plus pounds of Coleman Organic Chicken Drumsticks ($1.99 a pound) and a rack of Kirkland Signature Lamb Chops from Australia ($9.99 a pound).

I enjoy sunny side up Kirkland Signature Organic Eggs served over Kirkland Signature Organic Quinoa. Costco now sells 2 dozen cage-free organic brown eggs for a lower price, $5.99, and the house-brand organic quinoa comes in a larger bag (4.5 pounds instead of 4 pounds) for less than the national brand Costco once sold.

Thick Icelandic flounder fillets from Costco poached in under 10 minutes in a covered pan after I brought to a boil a 16-ounce jar of Roasted Chipotle Salsa from Whole Foods Market, a few ounces of chicken broth and fresh lemon juice.

I ate my flounder over leftover organic quinoa, which I prepared in an electric rice cooker with Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, black-eyed peas and olive oil.

Giving thanks for crab cakes, red snapper, steak and tacos

My Thanksgiving appetizer of handmade Phillips Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes from Costco Wholesale with Whole Foods Market's Roasted Salsa Verde and a side of organic purple sweet potatoes, which I mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, cinnamon and other seasonings.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I happily celebrated another turkey-free Thanksgiving this week, filling up instead on great seafood dishes, mashed purple sweet potatoes and an organic spring mix salad with crunchy pomegranate seeds.

And as we did before I stopped eating meat and poultry nearly five years ago, we don't have leftovers from a whole bird, because my wife roasts only the most flavorful dark-meat parts.

I started my feast on Tuesday night with a takeout order of fish tacos from Taqueria Los Gueros in Englewood.

On Wednesday night, I threw together a dish of pasta with sardines, using leftover bottled sauce in the refrigerator and a few ounces of organic whole-wheat capellini, which are just a little thicker than angel hair and cook in three to four minutes in a shallow pan (no need to salt the water).

And for breakfast on Thursday morning, I prepared a 10-inch egg-white frittata with smoked wild salmon and Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market.

My Thanksgiving entree was a whole red snapper prepared by a family friend and leftover wild-caught U-12 shrimp from H Mart in Englewood that my wife marinated in fresh lime juice and chopped garlic.

Pre-Thanksgiving takeout

At Taqueria Los Gueros, 48 W. Palisade Ave. in Englewood, we took advantage of Taco Tuesday, when 5 Pastor, Carnitas or Pollo tacos are only $4.99.

But my wife, who ordered the takeout, said the server wouldn't give her any fresh pineapple, an essential ingredient in a Taco el Pastor, and the way it comes when you eat it there.

The Taco Tuesday price is $1 less than what Pastor tacos cost the rest of the time.

She brought me an order of four fish tacos topped with avocado slices, what the taqueria calls Mexican Tacos ($8), but the portion was noticeably smaller than what I was served at Los Gueros in March.

I was in Englewood late Wednesday afternoon and stopped at Balthazar Bakery, 214 S. Dean St., for two $2 baguettes, waiting on line behind six or seven other customers.

Then, I stopped at Jerry's Gourmet & More at 410 S. Dean St., where I was surprised the hordes of pre-holiday shoppers left behind three Meals To Go, those complete restaurant-quality takeout dinners that are cut to $5.99 after 4 p.m.

Organic purple sweet potatoes from Whole Foods Market with conventional sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's. I mashed about 2 pounds of each with extra-virgin olive oil after boiling the skin-on sections together for about 45 minutes. The water turned purple.

Thanksgiving

For breakfast, I prepared a 10-inch frittata with Costco Wholesale's smoked wild salmon. 

This week, my wife paid $15.99 for a 1-pound package of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, close to the $15.59 the sliced salmon cost in March 2013. This year, the price had suddenly risen to $18.89.

For our Thanksgiving dinner, I started with two wonderful Phillips Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes, also from Costco, and delicious mashed organic purple sweet potatoes.

For $21.99, you get six frozen 3-ounce crab cakes (about $4 each). The first ingredient listed is crab meat.

My entree was a whole fish and wild-caught shrimp with chopped garlic and lime juice.

A few hours later, I had a simple salad of organic spring mix and pomegranate seeds, both from Costco.

The meat eaters in the family really went to town, preparing naturally raised turkey drumsticks from Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff, heating up a fully cooked naturally raised ham from Wellshire, and cooking oxtails and rice with pigeon peas.

I drank a red wine from Siciliy.

A wedge of smoked wild salmon frittata with roasted green salsa I made for my Thanksgiving morning breakfast and served over organic quinoa.

This morning, I had pasta and eggs -- a wedge of frittata with leftover organic whole-wheat capellini and sardines.

I used a 16-ounce carton of the 100% Egg Whites from Costco Wholesale with chopped garlic, scallions, grated sheep-milk's Pecorino Romano cheese and a little low-fat milk before I poured it into a preheated 10-inch pan with olive oil on the stove, below.

As the crust set, I added a half-pound of sliced Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale, where a 1-pound package was nearly $3 less last week. 

The frittata finished cooking under the broiler. I spooned on Whole Foods' Roasted Salsa Verde in the last few minutes.

A takeout order of Mexican Tacos from Taqueria Los Gueros in Englewood. Two corn tortillas are used for each taco. The green salsa that comes with them is hot and the red salsa is really hot. You also get marinated onions and jalapeno peppers.

A complete Grilled Hanger Steak takeout dinner from Jerry's in Englewood includes bowtie pasta with pesto, broccoli with garlic and steamed vegetables. Two other dinners contained roasted pork chops.

The price for a Meal To Go is cut to $5.99 after 4 p.m.

I ignored the many temptations at Balthazar Bakery, ordering my usual, two crusty baguettes, still only $2 each 12 years after the retail store opened.

Organic v. grass-fed beef, elusive food discounts, home cooking

Nature's Reserve Grass Fed Beef, left, and Clayton's Organic Ground Beef, both from Australia, are available at ShopRite in Paramus.

Clayton's Organic Ground Beef is 85% lean, compared to Nature Reserve's 80% lean.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Which is a better deal nutritionally -- 100% grass-fed ground beef raised without growth hormones or organic beef that is grass fed and grain finished?

I'd go with organic, because the beef is free of both harmful antibiotics and hormones, and the grain would have to be organic and free of GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

Both kinds are available at ShopRite in Paramus, where Clayton's Organic Ground Beef is on sale this week for $4.99 a pound with a store card, if you buy three packages.

At the International Food Warehouse in Lodi, 6.7-ounce bottles of yellow-fin tuna fillets are $5.99 or the equivalent of $14.30 a pound, above and below.

Fishing for deals in Lodi

You'll find one of the best selections of canned and bottled seafood at the International Food Warehouse, but bargains are elusive.

On Monday, I saw beautifully packaged 3.2-ounce tins of clams and crab from Chile for $2.50 each.

Bottle of tuna fillets, weighing only 6.7 ounces, were $5.99 each.

The store stocks tins of sardines from all over, but none are 99 cents, which is what I pay for Moroccan Sardines at Fattal's in Paterson.

Missing signs in the store, at 370 Essex St. in Lodi, make shopping difficult, but an employee I spoke with blamed customers for removing them, though I didn't understand why they would do that.

I took a 3-liter tin of extra-virgin olive oil from the Greek island of Crete to the front counter to find out the price, and left it there when it scanned at well over $20.

I bought a liter bottle of organic Turkish extra-virgin olive oil for $6.99, and fresh sweet red peppers for 89 cents a pound.

Two Costco Wholesale organic eggs with a generous pinch of Aleppo pepper made a great breakfast served over Costco's organic quinoa with diced tomatoes, black beans and whole garlic cloves prepared in an electric rice cooker.

Easy meals without bread

Breakfast can be just as filling without bread, especially one of those enormous bagels slathered with cream cheese.

Organic quinoa and whole-wheat pasta go great with eggs, omelets and frittatas.

Baked sweet potatoes need nothing beyond their terrific flavor and color.

When I couldn't find sweet potatoes this week, I boiled Kabocha squash with its skin and whole garlic cloves, and mashed them with extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings.

The squash was on sale at H Mart in Englewood for 45 cents a pound.

A simple egg-white omelet with a slice of Costco's reduced-fat Swiss cheese was delicious accompanied by leftover organic whole-wheat capellini lightly dressed in Costco's Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

My wife removed the bones and skin from leftover king whiting that were $1.99 a pound at H Mart in Englewood, and I used the flaky fish in a frittata with Costco's grated and sliced cheeses, and  dried Italian herbs. Two small baked sweet potatoes stood in for bread at this hearty breakfast.

My brother-in-law prepared fried whole porgy covered with onions, sweet pepper and whole pimento berries (allspice) cooked in vinegar or what is called escovitch fish, below. I ate mine with broccoli rabe from ShopRite that I blanched in boiling water and then sauteed with sesame oil and seasonings, including salt and powdered garlic.

For dinner tonight, I adopted a vegetarian recipe I saw in the newspaper for broccoli and firm tofu with ginger, onion, garlic, curry powder, tumeric and miso. I served the Costco tofu with Kabocha squash and garlic cloves I boiled and mashed, using extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings (I didn't have any fresh broccoli).

Recipe for Wafuu

Click on the following link to see the recipe from The Miami Herald:

Japanese comfort food

Enjoying meatless meals at Wondee's and at home

Wondee's Som Thom ($8) -- a salad of crunchy, fresh green papaya, peanuts, tomato and green beans in a tart dressing -- is my favorite way of starting a meatless meal at the Thai restaurant on Main Street in Hackensack.

Thome Yum Koong is a spicy soup of shrimp, mushrooms and chili paste ($4).

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

A Vegetarian Menu and a large selection of seafood and other meatless dishes makes it easy for me to eat well at Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles in Hackensack.

And family members who eat pork and poultry have plenty to choose from, too.

On Saturday night, three of us enjoyed salad, soup, a whole fish and a sauteed tofu dish with small bowls of white or brown rice.

 

A steamed whole fresh red snapper with chili pepper, garlic and lemon juice is called Pla Ma Now ($18). Three of us shared the fish with bowls of white or brown rice.

Kraprow Tofu is made with fresh basil leaves, onions, scallions and fresh chili ($11).

Wondee's is a BYO.

Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 201-883-1700. BYO, parking in rear, serves lunch and dinner, closed Mondays.


Going meatless at home

I continue to co-exist peacefully with members of the family who eat meat and poultry -- from organic chicken feet to grass-fed filet mignon.

We prepare food at home 5 or 6 days a week, using good ingredients from Costco Wholesale, Trader Joe's, ShopRite, Whole Foods Market, H Mart, Fattal's Bakery in Paterson and other stores.

Organic brown eggs with pesto (from Costco), smoked wild salmon and sun-dried tomatoes served over organic quinoa prepared in an electric cooker.

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix topped with smoked wild salmon and reduced-fat Swiss cheese, and served with prepared sweet-potato salad. All the ingredients came from Costco. The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Ackee and salt fish, a Jamaican specialty, served with sauteed collard greens from H Mart and quinoa with organic diced tomatoes.

A gooey frittata with pesto, smoked wild salmon, sliced tomato and reduced-fat Swiss cheese served over organic brown rice.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Pasta with Victoria Marinara Sauce and Al-Shark brand Moroccan Sardines in Tomato Sauce, which have dramatically less sodium than the same sardines in spicy oil. I used 1 pound of pasta, a 40-ounce jar of sauce and 2 cans of sardines. I added grated Pecorino Romano, an imported sheep's milk cheese.

Leftover frittata and pasta with sardines made for a filling breakfast today.

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Going nuts and getting soaked at Costco Wholesale

These 2-pound bags of raw hazelnuts at Costco Wholesale are imported from Canada, but the label says, "Product of Turkey or USA." They are $10.99 a bag.

Northern New Jersey had another day of on-and-off thunderstorms on Monday, but the rain had stopped when I got out of the car at Costco Wholesale, armed with a full-size umbrella.

As I write this, even more heavy rain is falling today, just as it did on Monday and last Friday.

On Monday, by the time I had checked out with more than $106 worth of fresh wild king salmon, smoked wild salmon, beefsteak tomatoes, seedless watermelon, canned fish and other items, Hackensack was hit by another wind-whipped rainstorm.

Back of the lot

It was a long walk to the car, which I usually park at the back of the lot to avoid the congestion of lazy shoppers who insist on a space closest to the door.

The umbrella kept my head and shoulders dry, but the wind-whipped rain soaked my shirt sleeves and the back of my pants, not to mention everything in my cart.

When I opened my car doors, the seats got wet, and when I grabbed the soaked box of 4 Tropicana half-gallons, the box broke and flew out of my hand onto the carpeted floor in front of the back seat.

A heavy, oblong seedless watermelon (no bargain at $7.49) nearly slipped out of my hands before it landed on a car seat.

One shopper abandoned a bag of sweet peppers at the Heinz Tomato Ketchup display. Did he or she think ketchup is a vegetable?

Kirkland Signature spices come in the same size jar, but their weight varies.

Snacking nuts

In the store, a display of raw, sodium-free hazelnuts caught my eye.

I decided to try a 2-pound bag for snack food, and roasted them at home in a 275-degree oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes, then dusted them with Kirkland Signature Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Vietnam.

We've been doing the same with  Costco's salt-free raw almonds, and four of us usually finish a 3-pound bag in about 10 days.

At 2 pounds for $10.99, the hazelnuts are more expensive than the almonds, but they have a distinctive taste.

At $2.59 for a 10.7-ounce bottle, Kirkland Signature Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Vietnam is one of the cheapest items in the Hackensack warehouse store. Only 3 pounds of bananas at $1.39 are cheaper.

Leftover wild king salmon with steamed organic quinoa, both from Costco.

A canned-fish salad over organic spring mix, with beefsteak tomato and hothouse cucumber, all from Costco. Canned tuna, pink salmon, and sardines are combined with chopped celery and apple, and dressed with hummus, Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin.

A quick egg-white omelet with Trader Joe's Jalapeno Yogurt Cheese and Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Costco.